Mississippi Man Sentenced for Internet Stalking of Young Evansville Women

“The scales of justice” by James Cridland is licensed under CC BY 2.0 CC BY 2.0

Defendant sentenced to 46 months of imprisonment

Evansville, IN-(ENEWSPF)- United States Attorney Josh J. Minkler, announced Monday the sentencing of Orlando Webber, 44, of Columbus, Mississippi for interstate stalking of young women from the Evansville area. Webber was sentenced to forty-six (46) months of imprisonment and 3 years of supervised release following the term of imprisonment by United States District Judge Richard Young in Evansville following a sentencing hearing on July 31, 2019.

For over four years, Webber used the moniker “Lando” to stalk as many as 30 high school-aged young women using various social media outlets. Most victims recall receiving vulgar and sexually explicit communications from Webber when they were 15-16 years old. Each time victims received the stalking messages, they would block him from their accounts, only to have Webber use a different account name to resume the stalking.

“This case should be a warning to anyone considering using social media platforms to sexually harass and stalk others,” said Minkler. “I want to commend the victims in this case for coming forward and assisting the investigators in identifying Webber and finally putting an end to his harassment. The cooperation of the victims not only ended their own harassment, it also prevented others from having to experience Webber’s abusive social media communications in the future.”

In April 2016, Victim 1 contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Cyber Tip Line to report that she and several other Evansville area high school girls were being harassed through their Twitter accounts. The messages included nude photographs of an adult male asking for sexual favors.

Federal law enforcement officials subpoenaed subscriber records and were able to locate Webber, who lived with his mother in Columbus, Mississippi. FBI agents used facial recognition technology to identify Webber after capturing images from a “Lando” social media account based on a tip from one of the victims.

At the time of Webber’s sentencing hearing, some of Webber’s victims appeared in court to describe the negative impact Webber had on their lives by placing them in fear because of his persistent stalking. As many as 30 different young women made reports about Webber’s stalking to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Evansville Police Department. The victims attending the sentencing hearing told the Judge that they finally felt safe again after Webber’s arrest on the stalking charges in May of 2018. Webber has been in custody since his arrest.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Evansville Police Department. The case was prosecuted on behalf of the government by Assistant United States Attorney Todd S. Shellenbarger.

In October 2017, United States Attorney Josh J. Minkler announced a Strategic Plan designed to shape and strengthen the District’s response to its most significant public safety challenges. This prosecution demonstrates the Office’s firm commitment to prosecuting those who exploit children through the use of social media and to work closely with Project Safe Childhood. See United States Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Indiana Strategic Plan 4.1 and 4.